An alarming escalation of Islamist militancy and suicide bomb blasts was the biggest threat to public security as it overpowered all other kinds of criminal activities, political violence and killings in the year 2005 that end cd yest erday.

But negative politics has buried people's expectation of rooting out unitedly the militants who have established a reign of terror by carrying out countrywide serial blasts and attacks on courts and other establishments, killing

judges, lawyers and commoners.

The government's role in tackling the militancy has been questioned as it turns a deaf ear to the allegations against Jamaat-e-Islami. some ministers and ruling party lawmakers of patronising and protecting the militants.

The new year starts with tire opposition seeming to focus their agitation on the resignation of the four-party government accusing it of harbouring militants and failing to govern the country efficiently in thelastfourycars.

In the last year of the coalition

government, the politics is heading towards further confrontation as both the government and opposition arc preparing to face each other in the street with an eye to the upcoming parliamentary election.

The year 2005 that began with the assassination of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria in a grenade attack witnessed new dimensions in violence and terrorism, human rights violation and ended with a presidential ordinance on wiretapping.

Skyrocketingpricesofessentials, a series of 'crossfire' killings, death of 119 people in a launch capsize in the Buriganga and the collapse of a garment factory building in Savar killing 77 people also marked the just concluded year.

The government that had repeatedly denied the existence of the militants was forced to ban Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata of Bangladesh (JMJB) after several NGO offices in the northern region were attacked.

Taking the advantage of the laxity in government drive against extremism, the militants prepared themselves with powerful bombs and explosives and carried out the countrywide blasts on August 17 to prove their strong network.

When the militant activities reached the peak in the following months with the introduction of suicide bomb attacks, the government faced strong pressure and demand for national consensus against the menace.

On November 30, the prime minister offered a 'national dialogue' to find ways to stop bomb terrorism but the mainstream opposition parties including the newly formed 14-party alliance led by Awami League boycotted the talks.

The government high-ups on one hand urged all the political parties to join in the national dialogue on terrorism and on the other launched a campaign against the main opposition party labelling it as the patron of the militants.

The dialogue on militancy that began on December 12 is yet to end and nobody knows how long will the discussion continue with the small political parties and the progovernment professional groups.

Apart from the allegations raised by the opposition, the ruling BNP has also faced tremendous internal pressure when a number of senior leaders including a lawmaker categorically alleged that Jamaat is the main force behind militancy.

BNP lawmaker Abu Hena was expelled from the party for his outspoken statement about militancy involving Jamaat and some ministers.

Amid media reports on mismanagement and irregularities in dealing with hajj flights, state minister for civil aviation and tourism Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin had to quit while state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain resigned over receiving a luxuries car from controversial oil and gas company Niko.

Bangladesh was branded as most corrupt in the world by the Transparency International for five consecutive years, but the government hardly took the matter seriously. The Anti-Corruption Commission is yet to start functioning effectively.

Despite the insecurity, soaring cost of living and confrontational politics, people observed a few successes. The successful holding of

Saarc Summit improved the government's image while people welcomed the drive against adulteration of food.

The nation celebrated Bangladesh cricket team's triumph over world champions Australia and the first test series victory that came against Zimbabwe

CONFRONTATIONAL POLITICS

With time running out fast, the ruling and opposition parties are now preparing for the polls and competing to take control of the streets ahead of the next parliamentary election, that many fear will overshadow the militant issue.

The 14-party opposition combine has come up with 31-point proposal to bring reform in the caretaker government and the electoral rules. They declared that they will resist any election if it is held without reforms while the government has rejected the demand saying that the election will be held under the existing system.

The 14-party held a 'grand rally' in Paltan Maidan on November 22 despite government obstruction and announced a 23-point common national programme with a pledge to establish a democratic country free from communal politics and extremism.

Within one month, the ruling BNP staged a similar showdown in Paltan.

Amid such a volatile situation, the Election Commission starts working today to prepare a fresh voter list for the next polls following a unilateral decision of the chief election commissioner, appointed by the government in a hurried move on May 23.

But uncertainty looms large over the fate of holding a free, fair and peaceful election in time as the ruling and opposition parties stick to their stances on the reforms in the caretaker government system and the electoral rules.

HR VIOLATIONS, ATTACK ON MEDIA

The violation of human rights continued in 2005 with the killing of 396 people in so-called 'crossfire' during 'shootouts' between the lawbreakers and the law enforcement agencies, mainly Rapid Action Battalion and police.

Besides, the countrywide bomb blasts and grenade attacks left 62 people killed.

The zealots continued their attacks on Ahmadiyyas across the country demanding that the small sect should be declared nonMuslim.

At the end of the year, the government promulgated an ordinance allowing the security agencies to bug telephonic conversations ignoring the protests of human rights organisations, political parties and the civil society.

The media was under tremendous pressures throughout the year. Senior ministers and the ruling party lawmakers in and outside of the

House repeatedly blasted the newspapers for "tarnishing country's image."

Two journalists were killed, 142 injured, 11 arrested, four kidnapped and 53 assaulted in more than 500 incidents across the country. Besides, 249 journalists were threatened with death and cases filed against 130 others, according to HR bodies.

When the journalists were facing such attacks, the Press Council submitted to the information ministry a draft law that suggests punitive measures against newspapers including cancellation of declaration at least for a day.

JUDICIARY

The judiciary witnessed lawyers' agitation throughout the year on different issues including the militant attacks and threats on judges and the alleged manipulation in the LLB result-sheet of an additional judge of the High Court.

The High Court delivered a number of significant judgements last year -- one declared illegal the fifth amendment to the constitution through which late president Ziaur Rahman assumed state power and another declared Gram Sarkar Act illegal.

Another much talked about issue in the judiciary was the presidential clemency to a ruling BNP man who was sentenced to death in a double murder case. The lawyers demonstrated on the Supreme Court premises against the act.

INEFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT

The House passed the year amid continued boycott by the main opposition Awami League and there was no move to resolve the parliamentary standoff.

The second largest opposition in parliament, HM Ershad's Jatiya Party that continued its participation in parliamentary proceedings failed to play its role, fearing the consequence of the pending cases against the party chairman.

However, 45 lawmakers, elected to women's reserved seats in an election boycotted by the main opposition, joined parliament and improved slightly its quorum crisis.

The parliamentary committee system failed to ensure accountability in the government expenditure and activities due to pressure from the ministers.